


No Cure For This Flu

by vianne78



Series: Nate [6]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: But clearly getting there, Catching the flu, Delirious Nate, Developing Relationship, Eventual Fluff, Feelings keep leaking out, Fever, Friendship/Love, M/M, Post-Blind Betrayal, Pre-Relationship, Sleepy Cuddles, Worried Danse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 01:16:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10933959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vianne78/pseuds/vianne78
Summary: Nate catches the flu. Danse does his best as a nurse.





	No Cure For This Flu

Just like Danse had glumly predicted, Nate was sorely regretting his decision to go alone.  
He felt like shit. There was a constant hum in his head, his eyes felt too hot for their sockets and his throat like it had been thoroughly sandpapered. Every muscle in his body ached, like someone had been beating him with a hammer all morning. Now that he thought about it, one of the kids at Oberland Station had been sniffling and sneezing quite a bit.  
Great. A goddamn wasteland flu was all he needed.

Pre-war, he had been sick a few times, but only for a day or two at a time and never with a real fever. Of course it could be that Nora had simply scared the symptoms away. If he had so much as coughed two times in a row, this evil glint appeared in her eyes and she threatened to stuff garlic cloves in his ears and make him drink onion milk, and whatever nightmarish cures her Finnish mother (who had been a witch of some kind, he was sure) had used on her. Consequently or not, Nate had hardly ever been sick.

The world he was living in now was very different. Not only was it unforgiving in every other way, but the diseases were something his pre-war body had a hard time fighting, no matter how strong it otherwise was. The common flu, as it was now, might make the kid sniffle, but it could effectively knock him out for days. The first time he’d caught it, the fever had been so high he had been more or less unconscious, hallucinating and cramping for days. Preston had been sure he would die on their hands.

And there were no witchy mothers-in-law available anymore. Or Nora.  
He would gladly let them stuff whole heads of garlic in his ears, or up his nose, or wherever they damn well pleased right about now. _Bet you never imagined you would ever think like that._ The thought made him chortle, which hurt enough to make his eyes water. He could swear his gear weighed much more now than it had when he had left, and he had only just passed Graygarden. 

He grit his teeth and continued to slowly make his way to Sanctuary. He could already hear Danse smugly saying “I told you so” and “this is what you get when we go separately” and possibly even “always in trouble when I let you out of my sight.”  
He didn’t care. He was a grown ass man and he would take it. Danse could rub it in his face for the rest of their days. He just had to make it to Sanctuary.

***

Danse woke up to a commotion and cracked one bleary eye open, listening. No gunfire or angry yelling, so it couldn’t be that bad.  
He had only just returned from his Coastal Cottage raider hunt, and had gone on for over 40 hours practically without sleep. Anything less than a throng of super mutant sized hostiles could be handled without him for a few hours. He snuggled deeper into the pillows with a satisfied sigh, and was just about to drift back to sleep, when he heard someone hurry by and mention Nate. 

He was fully awake and out of bed in a heartbeat, and about to burst out of his quarters when a small voice of sanity in the back of his head suggested he should probably put on some clothes first. Perhaps at least briefs, if nothing else. (The little voice sounded an awful lot like Codsworth these days.)  
“Right,” he muttered, grabbing the nearest pair of jeans and cursing when it took all of four seconds to yank them on. He didn’t bother with anything else and ran out while he was still buttoning up.

Danse was full of bad feelings as he ran towards the noise. He had fucking _known_ something would go wrong, but Nate, hoo boy, Nate had _insisted_ they split up, when they had received distress calls from three settlements on the same day.  
Preston had promptly answered the first one and had already left, when Radio Freedom had broadcasted about Coastal Cottage and Oberland Station - Raider trouble in both, and Danse had _hated_ the idea of going separately, but, well. Nate had asked him really nicely, and they didn’t call him Charmer for nothing. Danse had been powerless to deny him.  
He would so not fall for that one again.

“...doesn’t look too good, he’s absolutely burning up.” Piper’s voice, strained, somewhere in the small crowd.  
“How did he even make it here like this,” Preston was murmuring just as Danse muscled his way through and saw what they were talking about. They were holding Nate up, half carrying him towards the clinic, and people flocked anxiously around them with Nate’s gear. Though he was walking - sort of -, the bright red patches on his otherwise white skin were unsettling. 

“What the hell is going on? Is he sick? What’s wrong with him?” Danse had a hard time containing his worry, but tried to avoid lashing out at anyone in particular by taking Piper’s place under Nate’s arm. She let out a relieved sigh and rubbed her shoulder.  
“Whew, he is heavier than he looks - no, okay, he looks heavy, too, but damn. I’ll go open the doors, see that a bed is ready.” And she ran ahead.  
“The general doesn’t handle diseases very well in this day and age,” Preston grunted from the other side. “Curie said it was only natural, that he would develop tolerance over time. But right now he’s got the flu and it can get bad.” 

***

They lowered Nate on one of the beds in the clinic. He didn’t answer when spoken to and his skin was dry and scorching hot, when Danse felt his forehead and neck.  
“Is someone getting Curie?” He threw over his shoulder while he went through the cabinets to find water and then proceeded to grab every pillow he saw in the room. He was almost finished propping the patient more upright to ease his breathing, when he finally noticed no one had answered him. 

Oookay. That was not a good sign.  
He patted the pillows a few more times for good measure and made sure the Vault Dweller was lying on the pile as comfortably as possible, before turning to the now nearly empty room. Preston had been left alone to face Danse. 

“She’s still…” Preston’s voice squeaked and cracked. It would have been funny in any other situation. The minuteman visibly steeled himself and tried again. “She’s still at the Castle, teaching the nursing students, remember? She’s not due back until the day after tomorrow.” Preston swallowed, backing out the door as he spoke. “I’ll… I’ll just go and see if I can get a word out.”

***

Being a nurse wasn’t exactly one of Danse’s many skills, but he sure as hell didn’t want any other amateur messing with Nate, so he did his best regardless.  
He had help, once the settlers gathered enough courage to venture inside the clinic again. They shuffled quietly about, bringing plenty of drinks and making sure the medicine cabinets remained well stocked. All day, Danse left Nate’s side only when absolutely necessary, and even then only briefly.

One of those times, as he was coming back, Nate opened his eyes, shiny with fever. When he saw Danse, a brilliant smile spread on his face.  
“Oh...hi. Wow.”  
Danse ran his hands lightly across the pale, splotchy forehead and arms. Nate still wasn’t sweating, and did he feel even hotter now? Danse tried not to let his uneasiness show as he perched on the bed.  
“Hi yourself. Wow what?”  
Nate smiled even wider. “You’re _beautiful_ ,” he rasped, and Danse had to grin.  
“You’re even more delirious than I thought.”  
He managed to make Nate drink a little, before the patient drifted back to sleep, or unconsciousness.

***

As night fell, they were left alone. Danse was so irritable the settlers didn’t dare approach anymore, and eventually even Preston backed out with his hands up.  
Nate sometimes talked in his sleep when they were on the road, but now, as his fever seemed to - impossibly - still be rising, he talked a lot. Most of it was just mumbling, completely unintelligible, but they had something that closely resembled conversations, too.

“Unreal. This isn’t real is it?”  
“What?”  
“Can’t you see it? They all float.”  
“Float? Who is floating?”  
“They do. Right down here. But I’m seeing things, aren’t I?” Nate grabbed Danse’s shirt weakly, looking worried. “Danse?”  
“Yes?”  
“No, where is he?”  
Danse pried his fingers loose and held his hand, brushing Nate’s hair away from his face soothingly. “I’m right here, Nate. Right here.” 

***

“Have we met?”  
“Yes, Nate. We’ve met.”  
“Are you sure? I should remember you.”  
“You will, once we get the fever down.”  
“Yes, I feel feverish. I thought that was you.”  
_For heaven’s sake_. “Flirt with me when you’ll remember it afterwards.”

***

“She’s gone. Have you seen her?”  
“No, I haven’t.”  
“Her name is Nora.”  
“I know.” Danse folded a wet towel and pressed it on Nate’s forehead.  
“I love you,” he sighed, leaning into the cool fabric.  
Danse paused. _He thinks she’s here_.  
“I’m sorry. I’d bring her to you if I could. She’d probably know what to do,” Danse sighed, but Nate was out of it again.

***

Danse was nodding off by the bed, when every muscle in Nate’s body suddenly tensed, and then deep shudders and violent spasms wracked him. Fuck. Danse couldn’t think of anything else, he jumped on the bed, straddled Nate’s thighs and grabbed his arms to keep him from getting hurt. 

It took forever. Danse didn’t know if it was seconds or minutes, but it took forever.  
When the cramps finally stopped, he was shaking and his heart was pounding out of his chest as he warily loosened his grip, stepping back down. He slowly sat back in his chair, not even surprised his eyes were prickling a little. He was exhausted and scared shitless and felt completely useless. He was also wide awake. So much for taking a nap.

***

The serious sleep deprivation combined with the ongoing anxiety was taking its toll. Danse was resting his elbows on the bed, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes - something he had seen Nate do whenever the Vault Dweller tried to control his emotions in particularly bad situations. This was definitely one of those. It didn’t seem to help much, he still felt like he was about to cry like a child.

And then Nate shifted restlessly, opening his eyes just a fraction.  
“What… what’s happening?” As he peered around and spotted Danse, it felt like Nate was truly seeing - and recognizing - him for the first time. A relieved sob escaped Danse. He halfheartedly tried to mask the pathetic sound with a cough, but then Nate was reaching for the former Paladin, as if to verify he wasn’t hallucinating, and Danse forgot everything else, hastily taking Nate’s hand in his. A sheen of sweat had appeared on Nate’s forehead, and though he was still burning with the fever, it was clearly not as high as it had been.

“I guess I made it home,” Nate whispered and attempted to smile.  
“Yeah, you did. Barely. How’re you feeling?”  
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck. And a train. And like someone has beaten me with a barbed bat and then jammed it down my throat.”  
“That good, huh? I can’t let you out of my sight, can I,” Danse said, exasperated and elated, brushing the back of Nate’s hand with his cheek without thinking. 

Nate’s eyes softened.  
“You may be lethal, but even you can’t fight germs.”  
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” It sounded final.  
“Kinda knew you’d say that. Not gonna argue,” Nate murmured, closing his eyes again. It was nearly dawn.

***

Curie burst through the kitchen area’s door later the same morning.  
“I am ‘ome! Where is the patient, ‘ow is ‘e?”  
“Boy, are we happy to see you,” Preston jumped up to welcome her. “I'm glad you made it home a day early. I'll take you to him right away.” 

Several people came along, filling her in on the details on the way, like how the general had stumbled in through the gates, delirious with fever, and how Danse had been nesting at the clinic like a particularly cranky yao guai ever since.

“Ah. But that was to be expected, no? I’m sure ‘e ‘as taken excellent care of ‘im. There’s not that much you can do but keep ‘im ‘ydrated and wait it out, anyway.” 

They got into the clinic, and chatter quieted down as they stopped to stare at the scene in front of them.  
Nate seemed to be already sweating his fever away. Previously it had lasted for several days before finally subsiding. Looked like the Vault Dweller’s body might be developing defences very nicely indeed, but that was not what made them stare. 

The two soldiers were fast asleep, Nate’s arm wrapped around Danse’s shoulders. Danse was sprawled on his stomach, his head on Nate’s chest, arm thrown over Nate’s abdomen and - unlike that one time several months ago, when it had been a matter of opinion as well as a subject of intense debate over brunch - this time they were definitely also holding hands.

***

**Author's Note:**

> No, Danse. Nate was not talking to Nora.


End file.
